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Advanced And Renewable Energy

In tandem with energy efficiency, advanced and renewable energy is vital to the revitalization of Cleveland’s economy. The City is becoming a leader in advanced energy generation by collaborating with public, private, and institutional leaders to develop wind, solar, municipal solid waste-to-energy and co-generation capabilities.

For the Sustainable Cleveland initiative, 2013 is also Celebration Year for Advanced and Renewable Energy in Northeast Ohio. Clevelanders are invited to get involved all year long as jobs are created through the development of clean energy sources.

Advanced Energy Portfolio StandardIn June 2008, the City of Cleveland adopted a citywide Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS). The standard ensures that 15% of Cleveland Public Power’s energy comes from advanced or renewable sources by 2015, 20% by 2020, and 25% by 2025. The City also actively lobbied for the statewide AEPS that was passed in 2008.

Wind Energy RegulationsIn 2009, The City updated the zoning code regulations to ensure that wind energy facilities are developed and maintained to maximize utilization of Cleveland’s wind energy resources while protecting public health, safety and welfare.

Advanced and Renewable Energy: City of Cleveland Municipal Aggregation Program

The City of Cleveland's community aggregation program provides residential and small commercial Cleveland Electric Illuminating (Illuminating Co.) customers the opportunity to save money on their electric bills. Through governmental aggregation, a community purchasing program, the City of Cleveland leverages group buying power for the purchase of electricity. The City of Cleveland’s program was approved by voters in November of 2000. Residential and small commercial Illuminating Co. customers in the City of Cleveland who otherwise don’t have an active supplier contract, are automatically enrolled in the program.

From August 2015 – July 2017, about 40,000 CEI customers received both a fixed price on electricity and 50% of their electricity from green energy sources. Customers received a letter allowing them to “opt out” of the program or “opt up” to 100% green energy or “opt down” to conventional energy sourced mostly from nuclear, coal, and natural gas. As a result, Clevelanders gain price protection, support renewable energy, and help reduce Cleveland’s carbon footprint.

After going through a competitive process, the City of Cleveland will select a new electric aggregation supplier in Fall 2017. The new aggregation program will likely begin with the January 2018 meter read cycle.

Offshore Wind EnergyLEEDCo was founded in 2009 as a result of the work of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, and is leading the community's efforts to build and install an initial offshore wind pilot project near Cleveland in Lake Erie. This pilot is a first step toward the eventual installation of 1,000 MW of wind capacity in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie by 2020. This project would be the first freshwater offshore wind farm in North America. The City has partnered with Green Energy Ohio and Case Western Reserve University, among others, to conduct feasibility studies for offshore wind potential. Cleveland Public Power has committed to purchase 5 MW of energy from this project.

Onshore Wind Monitoring and Energy AssessmentThe City of Cleveland’s Department of Public Utilities contracted juwi Wind LLCto conduct a roughly year-long onsite wind resource monitoring and assessment of wind energy generation potential at two sites near the Lake Erie shoreline - Garret Morgan Water Treatment Plant and a private company called Jergens. Studies were completed in 2011 using 60 meter high meteorological towers (met towers). The analysis and final report submitted in 2012 indicates good energy generation potential at these sites. However, a more detailed analysis is required to assess the economic feasibility of onshore wind turbine projects at these sites.

Collinwood Solar ThermalThe Solar Thermal system at the Collinwood Recreation Center, which opened in 2011, provides domestic hot water needs for the facility’s sinks and showers. The system consists of 16 solar collectors that are roof mounted on the natatorium and connected to four 115-gallon solar water tanks.

The StarGenTM solar concentrator is a green technology, which provides an efficient source of energy while decreasing the use of non-renewable fossil fuels. The system is an alternative energy approach, which utilizes one of the greatest natural resources, the sun, to produce both electricity and thermal energy for residential, commercial and industrial use. The specialized PhotoVoltTM solar cells used at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse project were invented by a former NASA scientist at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Collinwood BioEnergyThe Collinwood BioEnergy facility is an anaerobic digestion facility located on Cleveland’s east side. This facility applies proven, advanced anaerobic digestion technology to produce electricity from organic waste (biomass). Cleveland Public Power is currently purchasing power from this facility, which is capable of producing 1.3MW of electricity.

Collinwood BioEnergy is of special significance to Cleveland as it was constructed on the grounds of the former Collinwood GM Fisher Body Plant. The Collinwood facility is helping bring jobs and investment to a community still struggling from the loss of the GM factory decades ago. Collinwood BioEnergy represents a partnership between Quasar Energy and Forest City, and was made possible through funds from the City of Cleveland’s Department of Economic Development, the State of Ohio, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Office of Sustainability leverages Cleveland's wealth of assets by collaborating with the community to improve the economic, environmental, and social well-being of its citizens. To lead by example, the Office develops and implements policies and practices with City departments to embrace a culture of sustainability.